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Sunday, December 29, 2013

New Years Champagne and Food Pairings

New Years Eve is one of my favorite days of the year. It's a day to reflect on the past year and look forward to a prosperous and healthy New Year. I will be sad to say good bye to 2013, which was my most accomplished year of my adult life. This year, we are welcoming 2014 with my soon to be sister and brother in law in South Florida and there will be plenty of eating and champagne drinking. Another great thing about New Years is that you can get nice champagne and sparkling wines on major sale.

One of my favorite affordable sparkling wine is Mumm Napa Brut Prestige. I am also a huge fan of their rose. You can easily find these for under $25 and make an impressive gift to a party host.Prestige is a medium bodied sparkling wine consisting of primarily Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. It pairs excellent with food.

A quick and easy appetizer to serve with Mumm Napa Brut Presitge is salmon, either smoked or cured. We made our own gravalax for Christmas morning and had the leftovers as an appetizer the following day. We used sliced salmon, candied lemon slices and a drop of cream cheese (cream fresh works well too). You can do multiple things with this paring, caviar, boiled eggs, capers, etc and it always makes for an easy delicious pairing.

If you are looking for something a little more elegant to ring in the New year but don't want to break the bank, G.H Mumm Cordon Rouge Champagne is an excellent option. This is a mid-ranged price point champagne and you can find it around $45 a bottle. G.H. Mumm Cordon Rouge is a dry Champagne, but still elegant and light-weight. The rich, toasty note lingers on the vibrant finish.

This is one of my favorite champagnes to bring to New Years brunch. I paired G.H. Mumm with miniature Croque Madame's. It was the perfect bite to go along with the bubbly.

If you want to spend a little more to truly celebrate the New Year in Style, Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut Champagne is the one I would suggest. You can find Perrier-Jouet around $50. It's not the most expensive champagne on the market but one that is a true crowd-pleaser.

This is one of my favorite celebratory drinks and chocolate covered strawberries are always a great pairing with champagne. Instead of traditional chocolate covered strawberries, I decided to make homemade strawberry ice cream using my BlendTec Blender which I received for Christmas. 45 seconds later, I had thick and creamy homemade ice cream. I found adorable tuxedo candy cups which made for the perfect presentation.